> The number of fires over the past 4 decades is trending down. The numbers for area burned looks like each time there's a peak, it burns out enough fuel to make subsequent years easier. There were a couple of peaks in 1980s/1990s, but nothing that big recently.
I think this is a misleading interpretation of two (pretty vague) statistics.
How have the mitigation strategies for fire changed over the last 30 years? The area burnt may not increase but the fires may be more fierce/more difficult to control, and the lack of change in these stats may be because of control techniques being different. The same can apply for the amount of preparatory work being done (/money spent) before fire season.
I think this is a misleading interpretation of two (pretty vague) statistics.
How have the mitigation strategies for fire changed over the last 30 years? The area burnt may not increase but the fires may be more fierce/more difficult to control, and the lack of change in these stats may be because of control techniques being different. The same can apply for the amount of preparatory work being done (/money spent) before fire season.